I hate to follow a happy chicken post with a sad one, but unfortunately sometimes that is just how things work out. Yesterday I went out to gather eggs in the early afternoon and found one of our Ameraucanas, Opal, passed away in a nestbox.

As fellow chicken owners can imagine, in addition to being sad, this absolutely terrified me. Was this only the first fatality before some horrible illness infected my whole flock? In an effort to be better safe than sorry, we took her to the vet and had a necropsy performed and we learned today that Opal was riddled with cancer that had recently spread to her liver. So while this is very sad for poor sweet Opal, the silver lining is that it’s very good news for the rest of our flock.

Opal was a wonderful chicken. She laid bright turquoise eggs, never picked on any of the other girls, loved sleeping outside in the Summertime with her friend, Myrtle, and was also our resident mouser. I’d heard rumor that chickens would capture and eat mice, but didn’t quite believe it until the day I saw Opal stalk through the grass and pounce just like a cat, catching and eating an entire mouse (yeesh…).

Chickens are generally pretty stoic creatures, so there is no way to know how she was really feeling, but we are comforted by the fact that up until I found her yesterday, Opal showed no signs of illness whatsoever. She was as happy and busy as ever, racing around the orchard, digging in the dirt, sunbathing and even laying eggs. Just recently I took a shot of her “helping” Blake in the orchard turning some sod. She waited eagerly for each piece and went to town eating worms and little bugs.

I’m extra glad just the afternoon before she passed away I made a point of picking her up for a cuddle. RIP, sweet Opal the Mouser, you were an excellent bird and will be missed on the homestead!

The once Little Girls are living out with the Big Girls, and certainly don’t look like babies anymore. They’ve been out there over a week now, and are finally hopping out of the chicken yard every morning to explore the orchard. They’re taking it nice and slow, so I don’t have to worry too much, they range just a touch farther each day.

The Welsummer twins, Trixie and Calamity Jane, are big and gorgeous. I love their partidge coloring. They do nearly everything together, mirroring each other’s movements.

The Ameraucanas, Viola and Gypsy, are outgoing and terribly fun. They race and hop around in the grass. Gypsy is the smallest of the youngsters but she’s been the first to try everything. Their very first day in the coop she hopped right up onto the roost with the Big Girls and tried to fit in and she’s been the first out of every doorway to potential exploration.

Viola has followed her lead and now every night they hop up onto the least favored roost and pretend they’re just as big as the grownups.

Tilda (whom we now affectionately refer to as Slow Tilda) is not the sharpest tack, but she’s adorable. Aside from being a touch slow and very timid, she’s got feathery feet, extra toes and a gigantic beard to contend with and all those things combined leave her in a near constant state of confusion.

If her beard and muffs continue to grow there may be some strategic trimming in her future because she simply cannot see the ground, which just compounds her lack of confidence. It certianly ups her cuteness factor though, as can be seen below, she’s always tilting her head to try and see if there are good things to eat down there.

Now that I’ve decompressed from Yarn School, I’m back to dyeing and spinning and have put some fresh fiber up in the Etsy shop. Among other woolly things, it includes more of The Green Fairy, the fiber each student received in their gift baggies for those who didn’t attend that want a little taste of Yarn School, and for those who simply want more, more, more

Here is a sample of how this dyelot looks spun up into a basic two-ply…

I’m also working on a nice big batch of handspun to ship to Adrian, so keep an eye out for that. There’s going to be oodles of two-ply, three-ply, and super squishy thread plied bobble yarn.

Well, not so much me, I’m still fighting off the last of the dread lurgy I picked up in Kansas (I arrived with the last touch of my LAST cold, and really thought it was just allergies….nope, a whole new exciting cold! Blerg.).

But the garden is officially up and running! I am already all atwitter in anticipation of eating local, participating in the One Local Summer Challenge, and bartering down at the local veggie stand. I got home last week to lots of wee baby seedlings just starting to grow. I’ve switched to sowing almost everything direct because through much trial and error I’ve discovered I get far better germination (ahem, this is no doubt in part because when sowing direct I have Nature to help me with the watering) and faster growth.

What’s popped up so far? Potatoes (red, yellow, and fingerlings), spinach, radishes, Walla Walla sweet onions, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, assorted herbs, and tons of various salad greens.

While there’s nothing to see from a distance, I’m very excited about my herb circle this year, it’s chock full of my favorite annuals….parsley, cilantro, purple basil, dill, chives, and nasturtium.

Hello, I’m back on the homestead! Yarn School was fabulous and exhausting.

The students were an absolute delight, the food was officially yumtastic, and the scenery was still just as intriguingly flat. The evening we arrived the skyine was glowing from people burning their fields. Which was very creepy, we don’t really have that sort of thing around here, other than people burning their fence lines to keep the tall grass down. But entire scorched glowing fields? That’s quite a site.

I worked primarily with the absolute beginners, which I enjoy so much. Getting to help someone create their very first handspun yarn is just hands down awesome. And it’s always super groovy to do something rewarding AND meet excellent new peeps at the same time.

Should you want to see more exciting Yarn School Spring Session ‘08 photos you can find my album of pics here, and there is also a Flickr group with tons of great shots. If you’re on Ravelry, there’s a Yarn School group.

The frenzy is upon me. This week has seen the house overrun with woolliness.

A quick Yarn School reminder: Registration is closing this Wednesday and there are just a couple of spots still available.

I cannot properly express precisely how much fun there is to be had, plus oodles of learning. It’s really an amazing experience. For those of you reading this that are already signed up and coming, I’m all atwitter to get there and meet you! Oh, and for a little preview, you can find my pictures from last Fall here. They’re also part of a Flick group full of tons of groovy shots.

And now I ought to go do some laundry so I’m not dressed like a woolly hobo on my trip